What it means if you see strange 'swirls and wave' patterns when you close your eyes

If you see peculiar 'swirls and wave' patterns when you close your eyes before going to sleep, science has got to the bottom of the phenomenon.

Drifting off to sleep can be a battle at the best of times, let alone when your vision suddenly starts playing up and instead of seeing pitch black, you feel like you're in Alice in Wonderland, falling down a rabbit-hole kaleidoscope of patterns and swirls zig-zagging all around you.

Fortunately, if this happens to you, you might take some comfort that you're not the only one, with dozens taking to social media and forums to document their nightly visuals.

It can feel like you're looking at a kaleidoscope (Getty Images)

A person on Quora asked: "When I close my eyes to sleep, I get bombarded with bright colours in streams and patterns and it makes it hard to calm down, is this normal?"

While another person on Twitter said: "Do u guys also have that weird thing where u can see colorful patterns when u have your eyes closed pls tell me someone knows what im saying," to which their followers agreed and described it as 'so distracting'.

Now, a scientist has revealed why so many us experience such sights.

Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology, Katrina Schmid, told The Conversation that the view is 'totally normal' and occurs due to a range of factors.

The professor explained there are 'a few different situations that can cause you to see colors with your eyes closed', the first of which is if you close your eyes when you're outside, in a bright room or in daylight.

Seeing swirls and patterns when trying to sleep is normal (Getty Images)

She continued: "Some light does go through your closed eyelids. So you might see a dark reddish colour because the lids have lots of blood vessels in them and this is the light taking on the colour of the blood it passes through."

Yet, strangely, we're more likely to see swirls, colors, waves and patterns when we close our eyes in the dark, which also has a scientific explanation.

They are called 'phosphenes', which are sensations of light people can 'see' when there is no actual light to cause them.

"Our eyes don't turn off in the dark, but instead they create very weak internal signals that mimic light," the professor added. "These signals are constantly being made by the cells at the back of your eyes.

"The swirls and waves we see are made by changes in activity from these cells. The blobs may be colored because the cells in your eyes that detect color also show this activity.

There's a science behind why we see patterns and swirls when we close our eyes (Getty Images)

"These signals are transmitted to the brain, and the brain interprets this random activity. Your brain doesn't know they weren't produced by real light, so we think we're seeing colored lights and patterns that are not there.

"It's a kind of illusion," she confirmed.

That said, while such 'illusions' are completely normal, they can also be a sign of retinal issues like retina detachment or neurological conditions - or you've been rubbing your eyes too much by applying slight pressure to your eyeball and giving yourself phosphenes.

The professor says if the illusions change and the patterns of light become more noticeable or 'hang around for longer', it might be time to book in with a doctor or an optician.